Did Microsoft Rip Off OSX When Creating Vista?

According to New York Times Tech guru David Pogue's recent video blog, the answer is yes. That is, if you understand sarcasm.

Windows Vista will be available January 30, 2007.

To read Pogue's response to some of the e-mails he received after posting his Vista review, just

Some of you claim, with much anger and swearing, that Apple steals from Microsoft just as much as the other way.

My response to one such response: “You’re right–very few things were actually invented wholesale by Apple. The mouse, menus, overlapping windows, the CD drive, Wi-Fi wireless, and so on–all of these things were developed elsewhere.

“But Apple *standardized* them. Chose them, recognized their potential, perfected them, made them over in its own way, and brought them to the masses.

“In Vista, on the other hand, Microsoft did not select unrecognized features, did not have any particular vision in knowing what would work and what wouldn’t, did not put its own stamp on anything. It simply waited for Apple to recognize and perfect good technologies, then duplicated them bit for bit. Oh, and then claim to be a leader in innovation. That’s quite a difference!”

Check out Pogue's full response
>The Redmond Copying Machine? on his NYT blog. All hail a sarcastic geek!